"Dirty Dozen" teams set to start Inaugural Hospice 24 weekend; event to include fireworks, music and family fun JACKSON, MI - A dozen teams from Chicago to Detroit will compete for bragging rights and a prize package worth over $10,000 for winning the Inaugural HOSPICE 24, a unique 24-hour go-kart race to be held this Saturday-Sunday, July 19-20, under the lights at Jackson Speedway. The race is unique in that it places drivers in identically prepared go-karts during an endurance event. The go-karts will race under a backdrop of fireworks on Saturday night, and there will be live music, children's activities, and family entertainment throughout the weekend. Pre-race ceremonies start at 1:30 p.m. and the green flag for 24 hours of racing drops at 2 p.m. The race is a benefit event for the Great Lakes Hospice Foundation. Teams competing in the event vary in talent and experience. Some corporate teams, such as the Flagstar team from the bank's corporate headquarters in Troy, Mich., have little to no racing experience. Other teams, like Grainger Industrial Supply in Niles, IL brings over 54 years of racing experience with them. "The competition will be vary in talent and skill, but overall, the race will be very competitive because of the go-karts - we know they are as equal as can be," said Jackson Speedway president Steve Lefere. "The race is going to come down to team strategy and driving skill, and of course, plain olš racing luck!" Jackson-based companies sponsor most of the 12 teams, but the local teams should not be taken lightly. IRL Pro Series driver Ronnie Johncox, who owns Technique, Inc., will sponsor a team that includes former Indy 500 driver and good friend Andy Michner, also from Jackson. Mark Melling, once the youngest owner ever of a NASCAR Winston Cup team, will also have a team in the event. "The concept of the HOSPICE 24 - an IROC-style endurance race - will provide for some interesting racing and challenges," said Lefere, a former national champion go-kart driver himself. "The racing will be intense and I'm sure we'll have some go-karts coming back to us a little roughed up!" The event, which runs concurrently with the Jackson Hot Air Jubilee and RaceWeek Snowmobile Spectacular, is part of the Jackson RaceWeek Festival of Events. Organizers have made the event more family friendly by including a Mini-24 for kids, remote control car racing, a moonwalk, a children's playground, face painting, concessions and live music. The pre-race ceremony will include a Moslem Shriners motorcycle team and a flyover with smoke by an AT-6 by one of the pilots taking part in the Jubilee's air show. Saturday night activities begin with the band "Showdown" playing starting at 8 p.m. The fireworks display will take place behind the backstretch of the oval at approximately 10 p.m., and the music will continue until 11 p.m. "The prize package, the fireworks, the band, and the Mini-24 would not have been possible if we did not have our sponsors step up in a big way," said Tommy Cameron, the race director. "The various media outlets around town have also helped us enormously to get the word out about the event." The Jackson office of AAA of Michigan and the McKesson Corp. of Springfield, MO sponsor the fireworks show, Wetherby's Funeral Home is bringing out the band, the Toy House is the sponsor of the Mini-24, and Extreme Entertainment is sponsoring the prize package and post-race part for teams. Pepsi-Cola of Michigan, Jackson Speedway and Jackson Ford are also major sponsors.